By Crime Historian Laura James, Esquire (c) 2005-18 WELCOME to my study of historic true crime, a literary blog where the chairs rest at the intersection of history, journalism, law, and murder, and the shelves are filled with the finest true crime literature. STEAL FROM THIS LIBRARY AND IT'S PISTOLS AT DAWN.

Drawing the Line? Attorney and book reviewer Norm Pattis recently sized up a new true crime book and has a lot of pointed questions. Check out his thought-provoking review in the Connecticut Law Tribune. Besides being a "colossal waste of time," he asks, "Whose interests are being served by publication of this work?" Having read the book, I found myself reluctantly agreeing with many of his points.

Crime historian and author E.J. Wagner was kind enough to read The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son, and she asked me to answer a few questions she had about the book and its subject, Dr. Zeo Wilkins. The interview is posted on E.J.'s new-ish blog, E.J's Dissecting Room.

Photo: Zeo Wilkins on her 5th honeymoon, from the Ogden City, Utah Standard-Examiner.

On the same note, the book was recently featured on the Missouri literary website Winding River. I've been invited to speak at my local library next week and at the Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City next year.

Meanwhile J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet called the book one of the best non-fiction titles he's read this year. Though this he said back in July.

And on another note, a documentary film crew is going to be in the Midwest soon, pursuing the legend of Belle Gunness. I might poke my head in on that production.

The University of Michigan Innocence Project has won a new trial for a convicted murderer here in Detroit. The Detroit Newshas a few details. The opinion affirming his conviction can be found here. Hmm. I plan to look harder at this case.

Five lucky CLEWS readers had their names drawn from a hat to win a free hardcover copy of A Cold-Blooded Business: Adultery, Murder, and a Killer's Path from the Bible Belt to the Boardroom by Marek Fuchs. The publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, was kind enough to share them with you -- readers who appreciate very well written true crime stories.

If you see your name below, your book will be mailed Media Mail (give it 4-10 days).

The winners (who, to enter, had to name their favorite true crime book ever) are:

Tom, St. Louis: "Some tough competition, but my number one would have to be Blood and Money, by Thomas Thompson. Not just the perfect title, but a combination of soap opera and Greek tragedy that, classicly, no one would dare invent. Two men with nothing in common but the woman they both loved, and her mysterious death. I know people who have literally stayed up all night reading this."

Ann, Lansing, Mich.: "Favorite ever true crime book is Darker than Night: The True Story of a Brutal Double Homicide and an 18-Year Long Quest for Justice because I live in Michigan and was familiar with the missing hunters and always wondered what had happened to them."

Carrie, Federal Way, WA: "I think my favorite True Crime book is Helter Skelter because of the nature of the attacks and the weirdness of the characters that committed the crimes. The fact the Bugliosi was privy to most of the info on the Manson Gang makes it a more believable, factual account. The deviance of behavior in these people makes for truly frightening reading. It's kind of unputdownable, riveting from beginning to end."

Jason (Headsman of Executed Today), Bloomington, Ind.: "I have to go with the classic Newgate Calendar, which is still a remarkably current look at both human folly and at the authorial voice that judges it. Plus, when writing about a different execution every single day, there's no better go-to source outside of the Third Reich!"

Courtney, Surrey, BC: "My favorite True Crime book... well, I have many including all the books done by Barry Scheck or involving his work. But my absolute favorite, although not entirely fitting for true crime genre in my opinion, is You Got Nothing Coming by the late Jimmy Lerner because it's the book that got me into the genre, helped me understand what was happening to my good friend in prison, and also because when I wrote to the author, he wrote back and I did his web site, and we became good friends. My friend who is incarcerated inspired my blog first and foremost, but a very close secondary inspiration was Jimmy Lerner and his amazingly entertaining and informative book.

"An interesting sidenote: This book actually inspired and was plagiarized by the Fox show Prison Break. If you read the book and then watch the first few episodes, you'll see the similarities. Jimmy was never notified of this, and was awarded a rather large settlement when it was discovered. Fox had purchased the rights to make a motion picture film based on the book, but not a television show loosely based on it."

Thanks to everyone who entered and watch this space for more book giveaways!

Constance Kent is one of the most enigmatic murderesses of all time. The story of the child-murder to which she confessed and the trial that resulted has been told in literally dozens of books, fiction and non-fiction.

The lady herself, however, after causing such a stir around the world in her youth, fell off the map afterward. So whatever happened to her?

A new book takes a look at the last fifty-plus years of her life in Australia – they were, thankfully, much quieter than her first years in England.

Australian professor Noeline Kyle has spent years unearthing the rest of the story. She has written A Greater Guilt: Constance Emilie Kent and the Road Murder. The short version: Constance changed her name, became a nurse, and lived to be a hundred years old! That's a helluva long time to be burdened witha murder she committed as a child herself....

One of the Weirder Persons of Interest in the Greatest Mystery of All Time

Francis Tumblety, an Irish-born American quack, was a weird fellow. His moustache was so wide he probably dusted door frames as he passed through them. He was also an unabashed misogynist, and, according to some, he was Jack the Ripper!

A Ripperologist has done a lot of digging of late and has written the first full-length biography of one of the more flamboyant Ripper suspects.

I'll mail these books next week, via Media Mail, to five CLEWS readers. The free book contest is open to anyone from any country. I'll draw the names of five winners from all emails received by Monday, October 26, 2009, at 5 p.m. EST.

To enter, send me an email at Laura4991 (at) prodigy (dot) net with your (a) name and address, (b) permission to use your name or a request to withhold your name, and (c) name your favorite-ever true crime book with a blurb on what made it so memorable.

If you have entered a book giveaway before and didn't win, you can submit your same answer. IF you have won a book on CLEWS before but did not receive your book, it's because a certain publicist for a certain publisher apparently failed to keep her commitment - please let me know if this applies to you!

A new book by Ontario attorney Patrick Brode documents the only serial killer to ever strike fatal blows in the city of Windsor, Ontario, and the case is very unusual.

The book is The Slasher Killings: A Canadian Sex-Crime Panic, 1945-1946 [Amazon; B&N]. This is a fascinating legal case history. Both the victims and the knife-wielding killer were homosexuals. Though it certainly looks like the correct man was identified and convicted, the case led to complicated legal proceedings and an amazing backlash against gay men in Windsor.

The killer’s murder spree lasted two summers. What resulted is today dubbed a “moral panic.” In responding to the crime, the Windsor press, police, prosecutors, and public all blamed gay men for spawning a maniac. In fact, one man who survived a knife attack by the Slasher was sentenced to prison. Homosexuals got no sympathy, even when they were the victims.

The book contained excellent legal analysis (the author is a lawyer who has actually penned several case studies). One appellate decision in the book is crisply criticized as “a clean, clinical decision that neatly avoided the real issues.” I recognized the sentiment. The author also delves into the psychology of the killer and the men he hunted, which is always interesting.

But it is the newspapers of Windsor, especially their columnists, who are skewered here for their roles in fomenting hatred in response to the murders. As the author reports, “The creation of a moral panic relies upon exaggeration and distortion. Much of the misinformation in Windsor was fed by the hysteria itself, and the rest was supplied by the press, who reported numerous nonexistent Slasher attacks.”

He concludes, “To a certain extent, the press purposely exaggerates events to stimulate public interest and boost circulation.” And some things never change.

It's disappointing, but I've come to expect disappointment in this sad affair. The next step in the criminal litigation is a hearing on the many motions pending before Lucas County Judge Gene Zmuda. The case has been the subject of repeated continuances for months. In September, Father Robinson's attorneys filed objections to these postponements and asked for oral argument, but the prosecutor was given until November 2 to file more pleadings.

So maybe there will be a hearing... in a month... or two or three....

I really do think they're waiting for him to give up the ghost.

I can't blame Judge Zmuda entirely for his dawdling. Sometimes I wish I'd never heard of this case, too.

The newest book by true crime author Mardi Link concerns a murder case in northern Michigan that was so truly bizarre that it is hard to think of anything quite like it in the annals of American crime.

Isadore's Secret: Sin, Murder, and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town [Amazon; B&N] was just published by the University of Michigan Press. It concerns the disappearance of a young nun in 1907, Sister Mary Janina. Her remains were found many years later buried in the crawlspace beneath her church. No less shocking was the identity of the murderer who eventually confessed to the horrific crime.

The case has been something of a well-known secret in legal circles in Michigan for a long time; I wrote a brief post on it years ago. This book is sure to stir controversy as does anything that touches on sex, religion, murder, and cover-up all at once.

Recently I met the author at the Ann Arbor Book Festival, where we appeared with true crime authors Patrick Brode, Steve Miller, and Andrea Billups. (The organizer was kind enough to vote us the “best looking panel” at the bookfest, which was sweet of him, though I didn’t get a chance to size up the competition.) Poised and professional, Mardi Link ably defended our favorite genre as she shared stories of the difficulties she encountered as she researched this book.

She also discussed her books in a recent interview with Bill Castanier on City Pulse Radio (slide to the :30 mark). Her blog Rusty Gun has more details, and the prologue of the book is posted here. I came home from the book festival with this title and more I look foward to reading and reviewing here soon.

A Sudden Shot

Journalist Camille Kimball has written her first true crime book to the acclaim of those who know the case of which she writes.

Such cases are notoriously difficult to profile, let alone solve, as the well-known D.C. Sniper case showed. Phoenix had a lucky break when a drinking buddy turned them in. The sheer scope of their crime spree is hard to grasp, let alone the motive. At least the lead murderer had the grace not to oppose due punishment.

The author recently write an essay describing her experience covering the case. Rather than lionizing the spree killers, she says she focuses on homicide detective Cliff Jewell. "I found that a great hero had emerged in the midst of the evil," she writes, "and I had the responsibility to tell his story." It is also the story of the victims; one, left terribly wounded by what his shooters called "random recreational violence," when given the first copy of the book, raised it to his lips and kissed it. "Then he smiled wide," Kimball says, "and held it high." That's quite the endorsement.

More details are at the author's blog, and rumor has it that she is working on another.

NewspaperArchiveMy most very favorite site on the internet. Millions of digitized, text-searchable newspapers from across the U.S. and the world. If my computer somehow froze up and I had access to only one website, this would be it.

Paper of Record Another pay-to-play website that features searchable historic newspapers. Canada is particularly well represented in its collection.